Ansback v. Greenberg
| Decision Date | 05 December 1952 |
| Citation | 256 S.W.2d 1 |
| Parties | ANSBACK v. GREENBERG (two cases). |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky |
Sal Pinto and Hargadon, Bennett & LeMaire, Louisville, for appellant.
Woodward, Hobson & Fulton, Louisville, for appellee.
The Ansbacks, husband and wife, and the appellee, Phil Greenberg, went to Florida to visit a daughter of the Ansbacks. The trip was made in Mr. Greenberg's new Buick and it was agreed the Ansbacks would pay one-half the cost of the gas and oil. On the return trip through the state of Georgia, Greenberg, who was driving, permitted the automobile to run off the road and turn over. The Ansbacks were injured. In this suit by them for damages the court directed a verdict for Greenberg.
We must first decide whether the Georgia law or the Kentucky law applies. The general rule, of course, is that an action for personal injuries must be tried under the law of the state where the injury occurred. Under the Georgia law, a guest in an automobile cannot recover from the owner for accidental injuries unless the acts causing the injuries amount to gross negligence. Harris v. Reid, 30 Ga.App. 187, 117 S.E. 256. The Ansbacks admit the general rule but rely on the exception to the rule which is that Kentucky courts will not follow the law of another state if that law is against the public policy of Kentucky. The basis for the argument is that this court, in the case of Ludwig v. Johnson, 243 Ky. 533, 534, 49 S.W.2d 347, held unconstitutional a Kentucky statute prohibiting recovery by a guest in an automobile against his host, except for an intentional act. The Ludwig case, to our mind, is not applicable. The question here is whether the Ansbacks have a cause of action under the Georgia law where the injury occurred. If they have no cause of action there, they have none here, and we don't reach the question of enforcing a right created by a law of another jurisdiction which might be contrary to the public policy of this state. The general rule is tersely stated in Restatement, Conflict of Laws, section 384(2): 'If no cause of action is created at the place of wrong, no recovery can be had in any other state.' Also see Jones v. Jones, 312 Ky. 240, 227 S.W.2d 182. We have no doubt the cause of action must be tested under the Georgia law.
The only evidence of negligence in this case is that Greenberg fell asleep at the wheel and permitted the car to run off the road. So the questions presented are: (1) Were the Ansbacks guests or paying passengers? (2) Was Greenberg guilty of gross negligence?
The weight of authority is that the sharing of the cost of gasoline and oil consumed on a trip, when the trip is taken for pleasure or social purposes, does not transform into a passenger one who without such exchange would be a guest. McCann v. Hoffman, 9 Cal.2d 279, 70 P.2d 909; Bushouse v. Brom, 297 Mich. 616, 298 N.W. 303; Jones v. Jones, 312 Ky. 240, 227 S.W.2d 182, in which the Court quoted from Duncan v. Hutchinson, 139 Ohio St. 185, 39 N.E.2d 140, 143. The rationale of the rule is stated in the Indiana case of Albert McGann Securities Co. v. Coen, 114 Ind.App. 60, 48 N.E.2d 58, 62, 1000:
Other cases to the same effect are Fiske v. Wilkie, 67 Cal.App.2d 440, 154 P.2d 725; McCornack v. Pickerell, 225 Iowa 1076, 283 N.W. 899; Barnard v. Heather, 135 Neb. 513, 282 N.W. 534; Hale v. Hale, 219 N.C 191, 13 S.E.2d 221. Although a few isolated cases from other states seem to hold to the contrary, they are decidedly in the minority. Counsel for the Ansbacks place considerable emphasis on the case of Holtsinger v. Scarbrough, 69 Ga.App. 117, 24 S.E.2d 869, but we do not consider the holding in that case inconsistent with the majority rule. It is our conclusion that the Ansbacks were...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Combs v. International Ins. Co.
...choice of law questions. See KY.REV.STAT. § 413.320. Prior to 1967, all Kentucky case law applied lex loci. See, e.g., Ansback v. Greenberg, 256 S.W.2d 1 (Ky.1952) (applying lex loci to an automobile accident case). In a series of cases in the late 1960s, however, Kentucky began to depart f......
-
Hodges v. Ladd
...is convincingly set forth in the Pettingell case, supra, and the language there is strikingly similar to that found in Ansback v. Greenberg, Ky.1953, 256 S.W.2d 1, 3 where the court 'Most courts hold that merely falling asleep at the wheel of an automobile, in the absence of facts which ord......
-
Workman v. Hargadon
...to a social purpose or hospitality of the operator of the automobile. Jones v. Jones, 312 Ky. 240, 227 S.W.2d 182; Ansback v. Greenberg, Ky., 256 S.W.2d 1; Huguenot v. Scaff, Ky., 294 S.W.2d 547; Carter v. Driver, Ky., 316 S.W.2d 378. See Annotations, Who is guest within contemplation of st......
-
Adam v. J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc.
...which tort actions were held to be governed by the substantive law of the jurisdiction where the tort occurred. See, e.g., Ansback v. Greenberg, 256 S.W.2d 1 (Ky.1952). Then in Wessling v. Paris, 417 S.W.2d 259, 260-61 (Ky.1967), where a plaintiff and defendant who both lived in Kentucky we......